Method and apparatus for writing characters

ABSTRACT

A recording device which is mechanically separated from a processor is manually moved on the recording medium to record the characters or indicia upon it. The recording of the characters on the recording medium while moving the recording head is accomplished by the stream of ink droplets ejected from the nozzle and control signals transmitted from the processor. The control signals from the processor to the recording head are generated in response to the displacement signals generated by a signal generating means within the recording head is manually moved.

United States Patent Kashio A [54] METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR WRITING CHARACTERS Inventor: Toshio Kashio, Tokyo, Japan Casio Computer Kabushiki Kaisha, Tokyo, Japan Filed: May 19, 1970 Appl. No.:, 38,736

Assignee:

Foreign Application Priority Data May 23, 196) July 10, I969 .lupzm Japan ..44/64878 US. Cl ..346/l, 346/75, 346/143, 101/1 Int. Cl. ..G0ld 15/18 Field of Search ..346/1, 33 R, 75, 140, 143; 10l/DIG. 13

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Winston ..346/1 "e 1 i a I I 1 I I I I t I l l t v 4 a a i i 1 5 E ii 5 v v I ;"."""l

[15] 3,656,169 [451 Apr. 11, 1972 3,416,153 12/1968 Hertz et al. ..346/75 3,496,547 2/1970 Gorrill et a1. ....340/ 172.5 3,504,622 4/1970 Morrison ...346/141 X 3,510,878 5/1970 Johnson.... ..346/l 3,554,347 1/1971 Perkins ..197/48 Primary Examiner-Joseph W. Hartary Att0meyNelson H. Shapiro ABSTRACT A recording device which is mechanically separated from a processor is manually moved on the recording medium to record the characters or indicia upon it. The recording of the characters on the recording medium while moving the recording head is accomplished by the stream of ink droplets ejected from the nozzle and control signals transmitted from the processor.

The control signals from the processor to the recording head are generated in response to the displacement signals generated by a signal generating means within the recording head is manually moved.

10 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures INK RESERVOIR COMPUTER PATENTEUAPR 1 1 I972 SHEET 1 [1F 3 COMPUTER PATENTEDAPRH m2 3,656,169

SHEET 2 OF 3 FIG. 2 F

COMPUTER INK I RESERVOIR PATENTEDAPR 11 1912 3,656,169

SHEET 3 [1F 3 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR WRITING CHARACTERS The present invention relates to a recorder used as an output equipment of an electronic computer and more particularly to a manual recording device of the type which synthesizes characters or the like each consisting of a dot pattern upon a recording medium by output signals, thereby recording the characters or the like.

In the electrical and mechanical recording apparatus, a recording medium is generally fore upon a platen and a recording head such as type bar or type wheel is disposed in opposed relation with the recording medium. As the characters are printed or recorded, the recording medium is relatively moved with respect to the recording head. When one line of the printing or recording is finished, the recording medium is advanced forwardly. The computers having a small memory capacity, especially desk top computers are like acounting machines and generally employ the bills as recording media. It will be therefore very convenient to provide a manual recording'head compact in size, easy to operate, and capable of automatically recording the results of arithematic operations upon any place upon the bills or registers by manually moving the recording head from left to right or right to left.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to record or print the characters or indicia upon a recording medium by manually moving a recording head which is mechanically separated from a processing unit of a computer.

It is another object of the present invention to apply the control signals from the processing unit of the computer to the independent recording head when the latter is manually operated, thereby printing or recording the characters or indicia on the recording medium upon movement of the recording head.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a manual recording device of the type physically separated from the processor of the computer, which device is provided with a detecting wheel for detecting the recording position, so that the position information is transmitted to the processor of the computer from signal generating means operable in response to the movement of said detecting wheel, whereby the control signals to be applied to the recording device is controlled.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a manual recording device by ink jet in which the detecting wheel carried by the recording device will not tread upon the characters or indicia printed or recorded upon a recording medium by a stream of ink directed from an ink emitter.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a manual recording device by ink jet in which is provided on ink control valve for controlling the ink supplied to the ink emitter from an ink reservoir which is physically separated from the recording device.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a manual recording device for printing or recording the characters or indicia by the stream of ink supplied from an ink reservoir and controlled by the control signals from the processor of the computer and which comprises an absorbing member for absorbing the ink not used for said printing or recording into the absorbing member attached to the ink emitter by deflecting the stream of ink thereto.

According to one aspect of the present invention, the recording device may be manually operated so that the characters or indicia may be printed or recorded upon any recording medium from any position.

According to another aspect of the present invention, the control signals are applied from the processor to the recording device so compact in size and light in weight as to be manually operable, thereby to perform printing or recording of the characters. Therefor, the present invention can eliminate a complex mechanism with a higher degree of accuracy in operation for moving the recording medium horizontally across the printing or recording point and feeding it forwardly for each line of printing or recording of the characters.

According to a further aspect of the present invention, the signal representative of the position or displacement of the recording device is generated by the signal generating means in response to the rotation or trip of the detection wheel so as to control the control signals to be transmitted from the processor, whereby the printing or recording operation for each character or the like may be controlled depending upon the roation or trip of the detection wheel irrespective of the velocity thereof.

According to a further aspect of the present invention, the recording device is provided with a signal generating means which comprises a switch and an actuator responsive to the detecting wheel for energizing the switch to generating the signal representative of the position or displacement of the recording device. The actuator is preferably in the form of wheel which has one or more of actuating means such as rachet teeth or magnets arranged around its periphery. With such arrangement, the position in which the initial character or the like is printed or recorded may be adjusted by utilizing the space width or spacing between two adjacent actuating means such as teeth or magnets of the wheel.

According to a further aspect of the present invention, the actuator is coaxially carried between a pair of spaced apart detection wheels so that when the recording device is moved the characters or the like printed or recorded by the ink ejected from the emitter pass immediately below the actuator, whereby the printed or recorded characters or the like will remain clean because the actuator will not tread thereupon and the characters or the like may be printed or recorded precisely along the center line of the recording device in the direction of movement thereof.

According to a further aspect of the present invention, the valve is provided in the recording device for controlling the ink fed from the exterior ink reservoir so that no ink will be supplied to the ink nozzle and drop or flow out of the nozzle tip when the printing or recording is not made.

According to a further aspect of the present invention, an ink absorbing member is disposed forwardly of the ink nozzle tip so that the unrequited ink may be directed toward the abosorbing member so as to absorb the unrequired ink into this member. When the ink absorbing member is saturated, it may be replaced. Therefor, even when the recording device is inclined or vibrated, the ink will not drop or flow out of the ink receiving member including the abovementioned ink absorbing member.

The present invention is based upon the discovery that an ink ejection or emission time interval of the order of 10 m.sec. is sufficient to emit the stream of ink magnetically, electrostatically or ultrasonically to print or record one character. As used herein the term character means alphanumeric, symbol and many other representations. Therefore, when the size of one character to be printed or recorded is 3 X 3 mm and the manual recording device of the present invention is moved at a velocity of the order of 3 mm/ m.sec., the deformation error of the character printed or recorded in the direction of movement of the recording device may be 0.3 mm even without applying a bias voltage across the horizontal-deflection electrodes in order to correct the deformation of the character printed or recorded in the direction of movement of the recording device. The printed or recorded character is not so different from the ordinary character. Furthermore, the printing velocity of 3 mm/lOO m.sec., that is 10 words per second is never slower than the manual writing velocity. It is not necessary to strictly maintain the velocity of 10 words per second and sometimes it is possible to increase this velocity when the characters printed are not so deformed. It would be also satisfactory even if the velocity is slower.

The present invention will become more apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiments thereof taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view partly in section of a first embodiment of a recording head of a recording device in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view with a part broken away of a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of a practical recording head;

FIG. 4 is a front view of an ink emitter of the inventive device; and

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line X X of FIG. 4.

FIG. 1 illustrates one embodiment of the present invention. Within a housing 11 of a recording device or head is disposed an emitter 12 comprising a nozzle for directing a stream of ink, an acceleration electrode for accelerating the ink beam and horizontal and vertical deflection electrodes. A voltage is applied to the acceleration electrode through a terminal a, and the horizontal and vertical deflection signals are applied to the horizontal and vertical deflection electrodes by means of the terminals b and c; and d and e respectively. The leads to these terminals a e are formed into one cable 14 extending from a computer 13.

Ink is supplied from an ink reservoir 16 through a tube 15. The emitter 12 is securely held in position upon the housing 11 by a belt 17. A ratchet wheel 18 is so disposed as to actuate a switch 19 through its teeth so as to transmit a signal to the computer 13 so that the signals for tracing the characters one by one may be transmitted from the computer 13. The ratchet wheel 18 is driven through a belt 21 and its pulley 22 by a tripmeter-wheel or detection wheel which rotates by the frictional force produced when it travels over a recording medium such as paper. An opening 23 is formed through the bottom wall of the housing 11 so that the trip-meter-wheel 20 may extend beyond the bottom wall. An opening 24 is also formed through the bottom wall so that the stream of ink emitted from the emitter 12 may reach the recording medium.

In the illustrated embodiment, the switch 19 is mechanically actuated by the rachet wheel 18, but it should be noted that the switch may be actuated optically or magnetically by any form of actuator. For instance, the actuator may be in the form of wheel which has magnets regularly arranged around its periphery, and in this case a ferreed switch is best suited for such actuator. It will be also understood that the ink reservoir 16 may be incorporated within the housing 11.

Next the mode of operation will be described. The recording medium such as paper is placed upon a support which is preferably grounded so that ink may be prevented from spraying over undesired areas upon the recording paper. The recording device or head is manually displaced over the recording medium from any arbitary position at any desired speed. Whenever the trip-meter-wheel 20 detects the displacement of 3 mm, the switch 19 is closed by the ratchet wheel 18 which in turn is driven by the belt 21. In consequence, as discussed above, the character tracing start signal is transmitted through a lead 25 to the computer 13 which in turn transmits the character tracing signals to the emitter through the cable 14, so that the stream of ink is directed toward the recording medium, thereby recording the contents of the computer upon the recording medium. The trip-meter-wheel 20 serves not only to detect the displacement of the recording head but also to maintain a predetermined spacing between the exit of the nozzle of the emitter and the recording medium.

In case of the recording by means of the manual recording device, the following requirements must be satisfied:

l. the recording device must be displaced from the right to the left in order to align the first digit of the characters along the right edges of the recording columns;

2. the nozzle exit must be located at the forward or leading end in the direction of the displacement of the recording head so that the characters being traced or drawn may be visually checked;

3. the trip-meter-wheel must be so arranged that it will not tread on the characters just drawn;

4. the resistance in the direction of the displacement of the recording device must be minimized; and

5. the recording device is not permitted to move backwardly so that the stability of character tracing or drawing operation will not be adversely affected.

The present invention has been made to satisfy the abovementioned requirements. Referring to FIG. 2 showing another embodiment wherein like parts are designated by like reference numerals 20 and 20 are trip-meter-wheels; 18, the

ratchet wheel; 19, a switch; 12, the emitter; and 24, a hole through which is directed the stream of ink from the emitter 12 toward the recording medium. The ink supply pipe 15 is communicated with the ink reservoir 16. A tube 27 contains the leads extending from the computer 13 and being connected to the terminals a, b, c, d and e so as to transmit the acceleration signals and the horizontal and vertical deflection signals to the acceleration electrode and the horizontal and vertical-deflection electrodes, respectively. The character tracing start signal is transmitted from the switch 19 to the computer 13 through lead 25.

The trip-meter-wheels or detection wheels 20 and 20 are made of a material having a greater coefficient of friction such as a rubber so that it may be readily driven upon the recording medium. The outer diameter of the ratchet wheel 18 is smaller than that of the trip-meter-wheels 20 and 20. These arrangements are required in order to satisfy the requirements (3), (4) and (5) described above. It will be seen from the drawing that the requirements l) and (2) are also satisfied.

When the manual recording device of the type described above is moved from the right to the left upon the recording medium, the trip-meter-wheels 20 and 20 rotates so that the actuator such as ratchet wheel 18 rotates, thereby making the switch 19 on and off. In consequence, the tracing signals are generated at a predetermined time interval. According to the specific embodiment, the reverse movement of the recording head is not permitted because of the ratchet mechanism. Since the trip-meter-wheels 20 and 20 are spaced apart from each other, they will not read upon the characters traced. Thus, it will be readily seen that the requirements as set forth above are satisfied. According to the present invention, even when the rachet wheel 18 is not in a suitable position to make the switch 19 on the rachet wheel may be permitted to rotate through an angle corresponding to the spacing between the adjacent teeth in either direction (this means the ratchet wheel may be reversed in direction through this angle) so that the switch 19 may be suitably switched to initiate the starting signal. That is, there is no fear that the tracing of the first character becomes unclear or vague.

In practice, a hydraustatic pressure generating device or source such as a pump is required in order to feed the ink to the emitter in the recording device. Furthermore, it is also necessary to prevent the spraying or scattering of ink when the manual recording device is inclined or vibrated.

In accordance with the present invention, the ink reservoir 16 is located in a position higher than the recording device so that the ink may be fed to the valve 26 through the pipe 15 from the ink reservoir 16 under the hydraustatic pressure. It should be noted that the valve 26 is opened only when the tracing or recording is being made. From the valve 26, ink is fed to the emitter 12 through a tube. Therefore, ink will not remain in the downstream, that is, on the other side of the emitter of the valve 26 when the tracing is not being made so that ink will not drop or flow out of the nozzle. From the standpoint of the construction, the recording device of the present invention is made simple because the pressure source is the hydraustatic pressure.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the recording head depicted in FIGS. 1 and 2. In the manual recording device of the type described herein, the positive control of the process of projection, interruption, projection and so on of the ink is difficult, the ink is generally emitted when the recording device travels upon the recording medium. Therefore it is a requirement that the ink which is not necessary for recording the characters must be directed to a suitable place other than the recording medium. For this purpose, it is proposed to provides a groove or the like into which is discharged the unnecessary ink. Thereafter, the ink in the groove or the like is recovered by a pump or washed away by water. This arrangenecessary ink is directed toward these fine grooves D. 33

designates a support; 34, an ink absorbing member having an elasticity; and 35, a holder for holding therein the ink absorbing member 34. The member 34 is attached around the receiver 32 by the frictional force, and the holder 35 is engaged with a stop ring 36. When the holder 35 is pulled downwardly, the ink absorbing member 34 and its holder 35 may be readily pulled out of the receiver 32. The stop ring 36 serves hold the ink absorbing member 34 in position relative to the holder 35.

FIG. 4 is a front view in cross section of the emitter. Like reference numerals employed in FIG. 3 are used to designate same parts. FIG. 5 is a cross sectional view taken along X-X of FIG. 4. Like reference numerals employed in FIG. 3 are also used to designate same parts. As seen from FIGS. 4 and 5, when the unnecessary ink is discharged to the fine slits D of the receiver 32 shown in FIG. 4, the ink is directed under the capillary action toward the ink absorbing member 34 and is absorbed by it. That is, the capillary action serves to increase the absorbing area, thereby increasing the ink absorption.

What is claimed is: 1. A method for recording characters comprising the steps of providing a recording head including an ink emitter and a recording medium-engaging rotating member, manually moving said recording head at any speed over said recording medium with said rotating member in engagement with said recording medium to rotate said rotating member as a function of the displacement of said recording head, generating a signal representative of this displacement in response to said rotation of said rotating member,

receiving from a processor of a computer the character recording signals at times depending upon said displacement signal, controlling a stream of ink emitted from said emitter in response to said received signals,

thereby recording the characters upon a recording medium when said recording head is manually moved over said recording medium.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein said recording head is moved in one direction over said recording medium, said rotating member comprises a detector wheel which rotates as said recording head is moved across said recording medium and said signal representative of the displacement of said recording head is generated in response to the operation of said detection wheel, and

said displacement signal is transmitted to said processor separated from said recording head.

3. A method according to claim 1, wherein at least one signal representative of the displacement of said recording head in accordance with a predetermined angle of rotation is generated, and

one character is recorded in response to said one displacement signal.

4. A method according to claim 2, wherein at least one signal representative of the displacement of said recording head is generated in accordance with a predetermined angle of rotation, said method further comprising the steps of:

receiving the horizontal and vertical deflection control signals for each of said characters to be recorded in response to said displacement signal, and recording each of said characters under the control of said horizontal and vertical deflection signals.

5. A manual recording device comprising: a processor of a computer,

a free, unguided manual recording head separated from said processor,

said recording head comprising rotatable means engageable with a recording medium for rotation in response to movement of the recording head over the recording medium for detecting the manual displacement of said recording head over the recording medium,

means for generating a signal representative of said displacement, and an ink emitter which is controlled under the control of the character recording signals received from said processor at times related to said displacement signal.

6. A manual recording device according to claim 5 characterized in that said displacement detecting means is at least one wheel rotatably carried by said recording head,

said detecting means is associated with said signal generating means, and

said signal generating means comprises a switch and an actuator for energizing said switch to generate said displacement signal.

7. A manual recording device according to claim 5, characterized in that said ink emitter comprises an ink nozzle,

one acceleration electrode,

a pair of horizontal deflection electrodes, and

a pair of vertical deflection electrodes,

said ink nozzle being supplied with ink,

said acceleration electrode for accelerating the stream of ink droplets projected from said ink nozzle and said pairs of horizontal and vertical-deflection electrodes for controlling the deflection of the stream ink droplets being electrically connected to said processor so that the signals may be applied to said electrodes.

8. A manual recording device according to claim 6, characterized in that said displacement detecting means is a pair of wheels, and

said actuator is carried coaxially of and between said pair of wheels,

the spacing between said pair of wheels being greater than the width of the characters to be recorded so that said pair of wheels are prevented from treading upon the characters recorded.

9. A manual recording device according to claim 7, wherein an ink source is connected to said ink emitter through an ink supply tube,

a valve coupled to said ink supply tube is disposed in said recording head, and the supply of ink is controlled by controlling said valve,

10. A manual recording device according to claim 7, wherein an ink receiver having slits formed through the periphery thereof is disposed forwardly of said ink nozzle, and

the ink directed toward said ink receiver is absorbed by an absorbing member which is detachably fitted over said ink receiver. 

1. A method for recording characters comprising the steps of proViding a recording head including an ink emitter and a recording medium-engaging rotating member, manually moving said recording head at any speed over said recording medium with said rotating member in engagement with said recording medium to rotate said rotating member as a function of the displacement of said recording head, generating a signal representative of this displacement in response to said rotation of said rotating member, receiving from a processor of a computer the character recording signals at times depending upon said displacement signal, controlling a stream of ink emitted from said emitter in response to said received signals, thereby recording the characters upon a recording medium when said recording head is manually moved over said recording medium.
 2. A method according to claim 1, wherein said recording head is moved in one direction over said recording medium, said rotating member comprises a detector wheel which rotates as said recording head is moved across said recording medium and said signal representative of the displacement of said recording head is generated in response to the operation of said detection wheel, and said displacement signal is transmitted to said processor separated from said recording head.
 3. A method according to claim 1, wherein at least one signal representative of the displacement of said recording head in accordance with a predetermined angle of rotation is generated, and one character is recorded in response to said one displacement signal.
 4. A method according to claim 2, wherein at least one signal representative of the displacement of said recording head is generated in accordance with a predetermined angle of rotation, said method further comprising the steps of: receiving the horizontal and vertical deflection control signals for each of said characters to be recorded in response to said displacement signal, and recording each of said characters under the control of said horizontal and vertical deflection signals.
 5. A manual recording device comprising: a processor of a computer, a free, unguided manual recording head separated from said processor, said recording head comprising rotatable means engageable with a recording medium for rotation in response to movement of the recording head over the recording medium for detecting the manual displacement of said recording head over the recording medium, means for generating a signal representative of said displacement, and an ink emitter which is controlled under the control of the character recording signals received from said processor at times related to said displacement signal.
 6. A manual recording device according to claim 5 characterized in that said displacement detecting means is at least one wheel rotatably carried by said recording head, said detecting means is associated with said signal generating means, and said signal generating means comprises a switch and an actuator for energizing said switch to generate said displacement signal.
 7. A manual recording device according to claim 5, characterized in that said ink emitter comprises an ink nozzle, one acceleration electrode, a pair of horizontal deflection electrodes, and a pair of vertical deflection electrodes, said ink nozzle being supplied with ink, said acceleration electrode for accelerating the stream of ink droplets projected from said ink nozzle and said pairs of horizontal and vertical-deflection electrodes for controlling the deflection of the stream ink droplets being electrically connected to said processor so that the signals may be applied to said electrodes.
 8. A manual recording device according to claim 6, characterized in that said displacement detecting means is a pair of wheels, and said actuator is carried coaxially of and between said pair of wheels, the spacing between said pair of wheels being greater than tHe width of the characters to be recorded so that said pair of wheels are prevented from treading upon the characters recorded.
 9. A manual recording device according to claim 7, wherein an ink source is connected to said ink emitter through an ink supply tube, a valve coupled to said ink supply tube is disposed in said recording head, and the supply of ink is controlled by controlling said valve,
 10. A manual recording device according to claim 7, wherein an ink receiver having slits formed through the periphery thereof is disposed forwardly of said ink nozzle, and the ink directed toward said ink receiver is absorbed by an absorbing member which is detachably fitted over said ink receiver. 